Diary

Wednesday, 20th May 2009

Neil Tennant opens his diary

Last week I was invited by a charity to contribute to a book of ‘words of wisdom’ I would like to have heard when I was 16. It made me think of a strange experience I had at that age. My parents were on holiday and some friends came over for a party; we stayed up most of the night playing music and fooling around. At about three in the morning someone suggested we had a séance. The letters of the alphabet were written on slips of paper and placed in a circle on the dining room table, a glass put in the centre, upside down. We each placed a forefinger on the glass which magically began to move around the circle spelling out nonsense, apparently of its own volition. Then its movements became more confident; one felt that the glass was pulling our fingers, not being pushed by them.

Someone asked: ‘is anyone there?’

‘YES’.

‘Do you have a message for anyone here?’

With sudden fluency: ‘MY DEAR CHILDREN YOU ARE SO YOUNG DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKES’.

‘What is your name?’

‘OSCAR WILDE’.

A great commotion amongst the adolescents around the table. Oscar Wilde!

‘Are you happy?’

‘NO.’

And he was gone. The glass stopped moving. We were all a bit freaked out. A strong wind was blowing outside. We decided we’d had enough. The letters were gathered in and the glass taken back to the kitchen. I don’t really believe in an afterlife and I suppose someone must have been pushing the glass but I’ve always felt a connection to Wilde since then, as though he’s someone I met once for a brief moment. I recently came across a book called Oscar Wilde in Purgatory, published in the 1920s, which consists of transcriptions of conversations a man called Hester Travers Smith claims to have had with Wilde via a ouija board. In death, as in life, it seems Oscar is a great talker.

1 | 2 | 3 Next page

More articles from: Neil Tennant | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (1)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

AL

May 27th, 2009 11:37pm Report this comment

“Legacy” is a great song with meaningful lyric. I think PSB, especially Neil, do not have to worry about it in China. Mainland Chinese who buy the “Yes” album will know. Thanks for internet, I am sure they will be able to listen, and will love this song. This is a great publicity of the album, actually. Unfortunately, there are many people, business, press, and government in Hong Kong now self-censor many things. I appreciate that I can have the freedom to listen to PSB songs. Freedom of speech is priceless. Hope to have PSB come to the United States for a tour soon.

Post comment